1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods that are used to facilitate enhanced services related to pre-paid telephone calling cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that pre-paid telephone calling cards have become widely used to obtain telephone calling services such as long distance calling services, etc. Consumers can purchase prepaid cards from retail stores and use the same to obtain access to telephone services to call friends and family all over the world. As such, many different kinds of pre-paid telephone calling cards are now available. Consumers can purchase pre-paid telephone calling cards having a variety of calling options (domestic calling options, international calling options, etc.) and a wide selection of pre-paid values. For example, consumers can purchase domestic-use calling cards that are charged with 100 domestic call units (i.e., a unit is typically equal to one telephone service minute, but may be associated with some other amount of timexe2x80x94e.g., 50 seconds, etc.).
The appeal of pre-paid cards to consumers is due in large part to the fact that pre-paid telephone calling cards often allow consumers to realize savings associated with making telephone calls. For example, pre-paid telephone calling cards often allow consumers to avoid the costs associated with using a conventional telephone calling card that is associated with a particular telephone line (e.g., an access call service charge that is added to other toll-call rates and charges). As a result of their appeal, many retailers have begun to offer and sell pre-paid cards. Since a relatively large selection of pre-paid telephone calling cards can be stocked and displayed without requiring significant retail floor space, retailers can enjoy maximized revenues relative to small sections of their leased or owned storefronts.
Despite the appeal of pre-paid cards to both consumers and retailers, such market acceptance has created serious problems for providers of pre-paid cards and related telephone services. In particular, providers of pre-paid cards have been forced to distinguish their products in order to effectively compete. To date, the only effective way to distinguish one""s pre-paid cards has been to continuously lower telephone service rates to the point of extremely thin or negative margins. And, unfortunately, pre-paid cards that promise the xe2x80x9clowestxe2x80x9d telephone service rates often are not sufficient to capture and retain pre-paid card customers.
Thus, there exists a need to provide systems and methods that will allow providers of pre-paid cards to offer enhanced services in relation to their pre-paid cards without requiring providers to lower their telephone service rates to unreasonable levels. To be viable, such systems and methods must allow users of pre-paid cards to easily take advantage of such enhanced services while, at the same time, using pre-paid cards to obtain conventional telephone calling services.
The present invention solves the above-described problems associated with prior pre-paid telephone calling cards by providing systems and methods that facilitate the provisioning, processing, and use of enhanced services in relation to pre-paid telephone calling cards.
By providing such systems and methods, providers of pre-paid telephone calling cards will be able to effectively compete in the pre-paid card marketplace by offering better, more feature-rich services on which consumers will rely on and come to enjoy. In particular, such systems and methods may be used to provide enhanced services to card purchasers who wish to obtain reduced telephone service rates to a selected country or location. In accordance with the present invention, a pre-paid card customer may purchase a pre-paid card and, upon first use of the pre-paid card for example, specify a country for which he would like to receive particular or special discounts on calls made into that country.
In accordance with the present invention, provided is a system and a method for facilitating the use of a preferred, discount rate pre-paid telephone calling card. The system and method include a data storage system for storing data corresponding to a pre-paid telephone calling card and at least one location identifier related to the pre-paid telephone calling card; the location identifier(s) corresponding to at least one telephone call service rate. The system and method also include and involve a pre-paid telephone calling card processing system that is coupled to the data storage system and which is configured to receive the location identifier(s) during a setup call over a telephone network and to cause the location identifier(s) to be stored in the data storage system during the setup call. During an access telephone call, such as one initiated to place an outbound pre-paid card telephone call to a terminating telephone number based on at least location identifier, a calling party may realize preferred, discounted telephone service rates.